Hikers: Go ahead, make his day

Clint Eastwood. He’s a man you shouldn’t mess with. And he’s got his eyes on Glendale — or, at least, his life-sized cutout does.

The cutout of Eastwood, in a pose from his 1964 Spaghetti Western “A Fistful of Dollars,” stands atop a hill near the Glendale (2) Freeway west of Verdugo Hills Hospital and looks out on North Glendale. Someone set him up just steps off a trail that begins near Descanso Gardens and connects with other trails and fire roads in the San Rafael Hills.

Reg Green, 83, of La Cañada Flintridge, ran into the Eastwood figure during a weekend hike earlier this month.

“I was up there minding my own business and suddenly out of the mist I saw this figure. He was tall and obviously a man, and I did a double-take,” Green said. “For a split-second, it did look as though there was a genuine, old-fashioned cowboy out there.”

The Eastwood figure bears a marker claiming it’s a “Glendale Public Art Project 2012,” but Tom Lorenz, a spokesman for the city, said it doesn’t appear to be affiliated with any city arts program.

Meanwhile, the cutout stands watch. Drivers on the 2 Freeway can easily make out his silhouette, but lest anyone gets any ideas, they may want to remember a line from “Gran Torino.”

“Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have messed with? That’s me.”
-- Bill Kisliuk, Times Community News

Twitter: @bkisliuk